While I was researching Jane Addams last week, I was fascinated by her attendance at a series of international peace conferences a century ago. I wondered if reviving the concept of international peace conferences was the missing piece in opposing all the US oil wars. It seemed to me that we needed to make the peace movement more solid, the way the #OccupyWallStreet had done for the warping of our political system by a wealthy few.
Scarry Thoughts seemed to be thinking along the same track in proposing a Virtual Antiwar University to provide continual education about peace. He writes:
We had a great series of antiwar teach-ins in the Chicago area in the run-up to Oct 8. More are happening – on an ad hoc basis, and with particular reference to the approaching Guantanamo anniversary, and of course a LOT oriented to NATO … etc etc ….
And even more are needed. Each day brings new revelations and new outrages. Drones … Pakistan … Libya … and on and on ….
It would be good if we could present this whole collection of learning opportunities — this “virtual antiwar university” — in a way that captures the publics imagination. Particularly since the occupy movement has done so much to mobilize people, to wake them up, and to lead them to ask, “How can I use the months ahead in a way that allows us to come back even stronger in the spring?”
Is there an opportunity to elevate this into something bigger than isolated teaching events? How could we make something like this happen?
Duchess Susanna had done some initial research on university peace studies programs for an idea of mine that has not come to fruition yet. She came up with about 20 programs. I wonder if one of them would host the virtual peace university.
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- First US Woman to Win the Nobel Peace Prize 10/17/11 (peacecouple.com)
- What I did on #AfghanistanTuesday (peacecouple.com)
